Rio Mesa High School

Rio Mesa High School
Location
Oxnard, California
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Once a gator, always a gator
Established	1965
Principal	Ray Gonzalez
Enrollment	2300
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Gator camo
Athletics conference	Pacific View
Website	Official website

Rio Mesa High School is located in Oxnard, California and is within the Oxnard Union High School District. It serves the Oxnard communities of Northern Oxnard, River Park, Nyeland Acres, and El Rio, as well as the western portion of the city of Camarillo. The name "Rio Mesa" was conceived by then trustee board member Robert (Bob) Matthews derived from the two original school districts that fed the school in 1965--Rio School District and Mesa Union--though it now takes students from the Pleasant Valley School District as well. The school is surrounded by the Oxnard Plain strawberry fields. It is noted for its picturesque setting.

Activities

Rio Mesa Dance Company

The Dance Company puts on two performances each year: one winter show and one spring show. The winter show is generally a children's theater type of show whereas the spring show is a collaboration of several different styles of dance including jazz, hip-hop, ballet, and tap. Some past winter shows include the Dance Company's own renditions of Beauty and the Beast, Annie, The Wizard of Oz, Newsies, the Lion King,Under the Sea: A Fish Tale, "You Can't Stop the Beat" and this year's current theme Welcome to My Nightmare. Some of the spring shows have been entitled "Express Yourself", "Full Out", "Lights, Camera, Action: Movie Madness", "Remember When: a Decade of Dance", "Heat Up the Dance Floor", "Wild", "Pulse" and this years show "Take Cover".

Geography Challenge, aka the Geo Bowl

This competition is held each December at Oxnard College. Questions focus on the relationship between geography and current events. In 2004, Rio Mesa won the team competition for the first time and earned a helicopter ride from Aspen Helicopters. New team member Bryce Newman won the individual championship. In 2005, Newman defended his individual championship and the team placed third. In 2006, the Rio Mesa team missed some key tie-breaking questions and finished sixth. Bryce Newman finished second in the individual competition, one point behind a student from Buena High School. Kim Ma is the team advisor. However, in the past two years, Rio Mesa has lost with the resurgence of Newbury Park High School.

Rio Mesa Knowledge Bowl

Rio Mesa participates in the Knowledge Bowl event that occurs every spring. Sponsored by the local AAUW chapter and spearheaded by Betty Rutherford, Knowledge Bowl began about 1970. [By comparison, the U.S. Academic Decathlon was founded in 1981.] Knowledge Bowl is a competition similar to Jeopardy where four players on two teams ring buzzers to answer questions for their team. There are two types of questions. Toss-up questions are worth ten points and there are 40 toss-up questions in a game. If a team rings in before a toss-up question has been fully read, and answers incorrectly, there is a five-point penalty. If the toss-up question is answered correctly, then a bonus question is given to that team. A bonus question can be worth anywhere from 20-30 points. The team with more points wins the game.

The team adviser was Scott Lee for several years, but recently, the task of adviser has passed to Chris Moody. Thomas Kim was the captain of the team from 2000-2002 and Nathan Giusti was the captain of the team from 2003-2005. In 2000, the team placed 2nd. In 2001, the team placed 7th. In 2002, the team placed 2nd. In 2003, the team placed 3rd. In 2004, the team placed 2nd behind Buena High School. Although Rio Mesa beat Buena High School in the original round, Rio Mesa lost to Buena in a tie-breaking round by 10 points (one toss-up question). In 2005, Rio Mesa placed 2nd. In 2006, a lot of transitions were made. Moody became the new adviser for the Knowledge Bowl team and most of the people from the previous year had graduated. Meghan Moore took over the job as captain of the Knowledge Bowl team. The team placed 4th that year.

The Spartan Marching Band

The Rio Mesa Spartan Band holds the record for winning the most consecutive sweepstakes awards in a marching season in the County. It was back in 1975–1976 under the direction of William (Bill) Course that the Rio Mesa Spartan Marching Band with its over 100 members had won Sweepstakes at every parade they participated in that season—a feat that had never before been accomplished in the history of the Rio Mesa Spartan Marching Band. Director William Course was left with the option for the following year to seek tougher competition outside of the Tri Counties (Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange Counties) for his undefeated Spartan Marching Band or be stuck attending the same exact parades the following year as non competitors participating as each parade's prior "Sweepstakes" Honor Band. Mr. Course petitioned the Oxnard Unified school board for permission for the following years Spartan Band to travel outside the Tri Counties for tougher competitions (Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties). Because of the distance the Oxnard Board of Directors denied his request, Mr. Course resigned from Rio Mesa and took the music director position at the newly built Calabasas High School. Never since has the Rio Mesa Spartan Band or any other High School band in the county won sweepstakes at every parade they have entered for the entire season.
The next time-frame for success of this marching program came during the years of 2001-2006, under the direction of Analese Alvarez. During this span, the marching band won 1st place or sweepstakes in 10 straight regional field show competitions, the drumline were gold medal winners in ADLA (2004), and the group qualified for SCSBOA Field Championships two years in a row with the percussion winning the High Percussion award both times. Awards at the Royal HS competition in 2004 also marked the band program's first sweepstakes awards in over 12 years.
In the school year of 2007-2008, Lisa Fleming was Director. The Rio Mesa Percussion Sweepstakes in the Competition held in Simi Valley High School and was the only band in the County in their division to attend SCSBOA Field Championships and to win 3rd Place in all Southern California in many, many years. The Members and Boosters hope to do as great as last year.

This year (2010-2011) the Rio Mesa Marching Band & Colorguard is directed by Mr. Mark Petrowsky, with Drum Major Daniel Balderrama.

Rio Mesa Championships

CIF Football - 1971 Rio Mesa (Div A) John Reardon 28-20 Paso Robles PVL Wrestling- 2010 5-1

Track and Field - Coach Brian Fitzgerald has an outstanding record coaching sprinters. Angela Burnham, Marion Jones and Valexsia Droughn each won the prestigious 100 meters at the CIF California State Meet, with Burnham adding the 100 and 200 meters titles while leading the team to the girl's team in 1991. Jones also won multiple titles, including both sprints 4 years in a row, completed after transferring out of the program for her junior year. Jones went on to future worldwide fame and disrepute. Both Burnham and Jones were named the national Girl's "High School Athlete of the Year" by Track and Field News twice. In 2000, Porchea Carroll, came within a few thousandths of a second of also winning the state 100 meters title.

World Quest

The local World Quest competition, held each February, is sponsored by the World Affairs Council, California Central Coast. There are ten rounds with ten questions each. The rounds vary annually, comprising a variety of subjects, but generally the competition tests students' knowledge of what is happening in the world. The first local competition was held in 2005. Rio Mesa finished second by one question to Buena HS, losing an appeal of a disputed answer. In 2006, Rio Mesa finished first by four questions, defeating second-place Buena and winning the trip to Washington, D.C. to the national competition. The advisor was Chris Moody. Team members were Eli Jacobson, Bryce Newman and Max Schuberth. Daniel Samimi was the fourth member at the local competition, but was not able to attend the national competition; he was replaced by William Moyer. In 2007, Rio Mesa successfully defended its local championship against 13 other teams. This time Rio Mesa and Buena tied with 75 correct. Rio Mesa then correctly answered four of five tie-breaking questions about Africa, defeating Buena by one point. The team competed in Washington, D.C. March 24, 2007. The team comprises Pat Browne, Eli Jacobson, Bryce Newman and Daniel Samimi, [team members, and Chris Moody, advisor.] In 2008, Rio Mesa once again defended its local championship. The team, composed of Jon Wu, Tom Darlington, Daniel Yu, and Chris Russell, competed in Washington, D.C. on April 5 and placed 19th of 42 regional winning teams.

Notable alumni

• Bobby Ayala : former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Mike and Bob Bryan: Professional tennis players who combined for eight Grand Slam titles
• Scott Fujita : New Orleans Saints linebacker
• Marion Jones: former world champion track and field athlete
• Michael Lee: Producer and keyboardist for Meredith Brooks and Melissa Etheridge
• Kevin Thomas: Current Indianapolis Colts cornerback
• Blake Wingle: former NFL offensive guard
• Dmitri Young: former Major League Baseball player
• Randy "Scott" Holman: former Major League Baseball pitcher - New York Mets 1983 - 1984

External links

• Oxnard Union High School School District
• RMHS Alumni